Victor Eugene Bianchini (born 1938) is a retired State of California Superior Court Judge and a retired, U.S. magistrate judge, with service in the Southern District of California, the Central District of California, the Western District of New York, the Northern District of New York, and the Eastern District of Washington. Bianchini served as a judge, for both the state and federal courts continuously for over 48 years, during which period he was honored numerous times. Bianchini now practices as a full-time private neutral mediator and arbitrator. Bianchini is a decorated United States Marine Corps colonel with 31 years of service, active and reserve. Bianchini is also an American sabre fencer and is a two-time World Team champion and a World Team silver and bronze medalist, a former 2012 individual U.S. National Champion, most recently won the Sabre individual National Championships for 2021 and 2022, and is a four-time North American Cup champion in Veteran competition. He has qualified for nine Veterans World Championships, and has finished sixth, seventh, and tenth twice, in individual competition. He was also a bronze medalist in the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem in the 40's age division, and a bronze and silver medalist in the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv in the 35's age division.
Early life and education
Born in San Pedro, California in 1938, to a Jewish mother, Judith (Nee' Ben Kiki) Bianchini and Catholic father, Henry Bianchini, he is the second oldest of six siblings. His oldest brother, Henry Bianchini, is an artist based in Hawaii. His great-grandfather Shmuel Ben Kiki and grandfather Hayyim Ben Kiki were the chief Rabbis and Rabbinical Judges of Tiberias, Palestine, now Israel. The Ben Kiki family immigrated to Palestine from Rabat, Morocco in the 1800s. Bianchini is a first generation American. Bianchini's mother was a native of Tiberias, Palestine, and legally blind her entire life. His father, a native of Naples, Italy, was a career officer of the United States Navy. Relocating extensively because of his father's Naval service, he spent his early years in San Pedro, California, his WWII years in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Paterson, New Jersey, and his post-WWII years in Argentia, Newfoundland, Quonset Point, Rhode Island and finally settling, at the age of 13, in San Diego, California. He attended and graduated from San Diego High School (SDHS) and was inducted by the SDHS Alumni Association to its "Wall of Honor in 2005." He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the San Diego State University College of Arts & Letters in 1960, where he had extensive involvement in student government and was named to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. He received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1963 and a Certificate in Judicial Development with an emphasis in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the National Judicial College, Reno, Nevada in 1995.
Judicial service
After graduating from law school, Judge Bianchini served as the confidential law clerk to Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Marshall Carter of the Southern District of California from 1963 to 1964. Judge Carter was the supervising judge of the Southern Division of the Southern District of California at that time, became the founding Chief Judge of the newly designated Southern District and transferred from the newly designated Central District in 1966, and was later elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1967.
Since then, Bianchini served as a judge, both state and federal, continuously for 48 years. He served as a U.S. Commissioner from 1968 to 1969, a U.S. Magistrate from 1974 to 1982, a San Diego County Municipal Court judge from 1982 to 1998 and California State Superior Court judge in San Diego County from 1998 to 2002. After retiring from the Superior Court in 2002, Bianchini was recalled to duty in 2002 with the Federal Courts as a United States magistrate judge and continually served until December 28, 2021. He was first recalled to the Western District of New York (Buffalo and Rochester), then served simultaneously in both the Western and Northern Districts of New York until 2013. He then transferred and served with the Eastern District of Washington (Spokane, Yakima) for two years, and served in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles, Santa Ana & Riverside) from 2015 to 2022. He volunteered frequently in his home district of the Southern District of California (San Diego) from 2006 to 2017.